A robotic system may have several user selectable operating modes. One way a user may select an operating mode is through a menu driven Graphical User Interface (GUI). Although this type of mode selection is very flexible and accommodates a large number of user selectable operating modes, it may be time consuming for the user to interact with the GUI. For example, if the user's hands are occupied at the time with manipulating input devices, it may be inconvenient to take a hand off one of the input devices and place it on another input device, such as a computer mouse or touchpad, to interact with the GUI.
Another way the user may select an operating mode among the several user selectable operating modes is by issuing a voice command that is recognizable by a voice recognition system. This approach has the advantages that it is relatively quick and the user's hands do not have to be taken off input devices being used at the time. However, the approach suffers from the additional cost of the voice recognition system and possible errors resulting from the voice recognition system incorrectly recognizing the user's spoken commands.
Yet another way the user may select an operating mode among the several user selectable operating modes is by activating a foot pedal. This has the advantage that the user will not be required to remove a hand from an input device being used at the time. However, when there are more than just a few user selectable operating modes, the number of foot pedals required to select an operating mode may become prohibitive from an implementation and usability perspective. For example, when there are four user selectable operating modes and each foot pedal is associated with only one of the user selectable operating modes, four foot pedals are required. The requirements that such foot pedals are easily reachable, but spaced apart sufficiently to avoid accidental pressing, make the approach prohibitive so that in practice only two or three pedals may be used.